Mortgage Delinquency Runs Slightly Higher in Dems’ Districts

Housing and mortgage issues could weigh on more than the economy this fall—they could also drag on the re-election hopes of lawmakers.

A new report from Deutsche Bank analyzed mortgage delinquencies by Congressional district to see whether Democrats or Republicans would be helped or hurt by foreclosure rates in their locale.

Turns out mortgage delinquency is relatively bipartisan.The report found that 9.4% of all loans were 90 days or more past due or in foreclosure in the average Congressional district—more than 2.5 times the rate on Election Day two years ago. “That pace of deterioration alone should put housing and mortgage finance on most political radars,” says the report.

On average, districts represented by Democrats have an average serious delinquency rate of 9.9%, while the Republicans, which represent 77 fewer districts, have an average rate of 8.7%.

The report says that while both parties represent equal numbers of districts with very low or very high rates of delinquency, Democrats “heavily over-represent the middle of the distribution,” which results in the slightly higher average delinquency rate.

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